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INTERVIEW WITH VILLE AND MIGE TAKEN BY PnR
PnR: How do you
feel now that you're commercially successful?
Ville: I can say that I've waited for this to happen since I formed the
band and I was making Black Sabbath's covers. I am with Mige for ten years in HIM but we know each other since 80's. We were moving from band to band and for me nothing has changed. The things are just organized now. We haven't
played with the other members of HIM for such a long time,and I feel more connected with Mige. We have changed a lot of bands
together! So the base of HIM is our friendship that exists from the years that we were together at school. Since then, we
preferred to play music than playing cards!
Mige: In this country
you can't live by playing music. We'd have to sing in Finnish, to happen something like that. Our dream-being popular in other
countries too-came true when we took the risk of singing in English. I am excited that people from the whole Europe accept
us. As regards the sells, it's all about music industry. The game that is played by the music industry is awful but that's
maybe the only way to be popular outside your country. Until now, we were popular only in Germany and it happens that Germany
is a country from where we have more fans. I think that the reason is that our culture is similar with the culture of the
German-speak countries and that we accept some irritations.
PnR: Ville, you said something about Black Sabbath. It impressed me...
Ville: The
truth is that I didn't manage to play Black Sabbath for a long time because I left quickly that band. I can only say for myself
that I started playing, as a bassist, covers on Kiss songs. After that, I tried to create a band with permanent members. So,
we had to try a lot of people to be sure that it was going to work out. I just hated all this procedure. Then, we started
the rehearsals twice a week and I tried my luck in singing.
PnR: There are some bands that are
successful out of their countries and other bands that are very good but popular only inside
their countries. What do you think about it?
Ville: It's
just luck. Maybe you know that there are very good bands in the whole world and we have never heard about
them. It does not matter if your music is weird because with a little of luck you can be commercially successful. There are
guys that are doing their best to promote their group, but they can't get away from the "underground " encirclement. For me,
luck plays a really big role.
PnR: What has affected
you the most about your music?
Mige: We can't give
a specifically answer in that question, as we are interested in many different artists.
Ville:
If you think well about it, everything can affect you like the music that we hear right now(he's talking
about an awful pop Finnish song).I like songs from Madonna, Cradle of Filth, Manowar, Elvis Presley. I love songs and not
their creators, I'm just sufficed by a nice melody. Only a chorus could make me feel good. In my opinion, this is the most
healthy attitude.
PnR: Two
of the songs from your first album are in the second too. Why did this happen?
Ville: There
is an explanation. These two songs("Your sweet 666" and "Wicked Game")are only in the European version of "Razorblade Romance"
for the reason that "Greatest Lovesongs Vol.666" hasn't been released there. So,we chose these two songs because they were
the best and they can also give a general picture from our first album.
PnR: What
made you cover "Wicked Game"?
Ville: I
saw "Wild at heart" from David Lewis and this song was the main subject of that movie. Then I bought the soundtrack, a movement
that happened at the same time that HIM formed, and as we had already three songs ready, we found a fourth one that we could
play.
PnR: How do you
face cinema?
Ville: Like all people do. I enjoy going to the cinema. Fortunately in Finland smoking is allowed in the cinema-rooms,
otherwise I couldn't stand two hours without a cigarette...Now that I think about it, I'm visiting very often the toilet,
so there is an other thing that prevents you to enjoy a film!
Mige: I'm only gonna
say that I like films that can entertain me.
PnR: "Join
me in death" was in the soundtrack of the futurist movie "The 13th floor". If somebody asked you to recover
the whole soundtrack of a film, would you except the proposition?
Ville: Definitely
not, if it was a comedy. As regards a drama, like "The English patient", yes. I would surely write the music for a Tim Barton's
film because we admire him.
PnR: Which film from the past you'd like to write the music for?
Ville: There
are a lot of Finnish movies that I liked, but we'd do something like that only if we had to be occupied with the whole score
and not give only one song like we did with "The 13th Floor". Hmmm, I think that it is going to happen in a couple of years
(laughs).
PnR: If you went tomorrow
in the studio to make your third album, how would it be like?
Ville:
We have already written some demos! Probably, the music would be more rock n' roll, noisy, more rhythmical. But be patient,
as we have to wait for the new recordings to see how it's going to be like. Basically, I imagine it more melodic, more 70's,something
like Led Zeppelin. With our first album we were in 90's,with the second in 80's and with the third in 70's:we have to follow
our tradition that wants us to invert the decades. This is a way for the revival of the music that we sheared then.
PnR:
Does that mean that we're going to hear hits from the 60's in your fourth
album?
Ville:
I'm not worried about it...I'm thinking what is going to happen in the tenth one, in which probably we're gonna play with
African crust! Seriously now, we'd like our next album to be more rhythmical, I comfort it like a kind of development for
us. Something that is being indispensable when your sound is based on the guitars.
PnR: What about
the technological evolution?
Ville:
I like electronic music, and consider Depeche Mode pioneers and great musicians. But, when you play rock you don't have a
lot of choices, basically because of the live concerts. You're obligated to play with contractual organs. If the music is
written with sent, the drummer has to hear from the receivers the sequencer to follow the song. When you play rock, you're
not able to play the same you did the previous night. It's easily understood that in two hundred gigs you'll play in two hundred
different ways and it doesn't matter if the songs are the same in every gig. If you play every night in the same way, then
the situation is going to be really boring.
PnR: But
there are also the remixes...
Ville:
I like them but we haven't done anything yet. John Fryer, our producer, would be the appropriate person for this job. He impressed
me with the remixes he has done for White Zombie. He's very productive and he has the ability of transforming songs with the
remixes. I think that it's a difficult job. You can't overtake some wonderful remixes, but on the other hand there are a lot
of people who are occupied with this sport so a crush is created...For me, the remix has to be perfect and that demands hard
work. I return to Fryer and Rob Zombie and I'm saying that I respect them both in this specifically subject.
PnR:
Do you have any information about music in the other countries except
U.S.A. and England?
Ville:
Of course we know what's happening in Europe, especially in central Europe. The country that we know the most about is Germany;
I like very much Germans music, for example their Goth music. I know a lot of things about the artists of German scene. And
of course, like we said, there are a lot of interesting groups in the whole world.
PnR: Wanting it
or not, you're named as a Goth group. Do you like that?
Ville:
We can't do anything about it. But I think that we are a special shade of Goth, we are tenderer than the others of that kind
of music. This obsession in gothic has to do also with the other personal tastes of me; I like being dressed in black clothes,
but also with the Finnish musical tradition. Our traditional music is very melancholic.
PnR: The subject
of your lyrics is mostly about love, lost lovers etc. Are these the only things that observe you?
Mige: Love is an important
social relationship and if you look at the people around you, youre going to hear everybody talking about love. From the Arctic
Circle to South Africa, everybody is chasing a relationship, everybody is talking about t love-so unavoidably it possesses
a great part of music philosophy, because everyone has experiences with love. Then, the personal relationships are becoming
social and we pass in bigger social groups. When we started, ten years before, we already knew the subject on which we were
going to work. The lyrics of "Join me in death" were symbolical, but they were the cause of being misunderstood as a band,
as many people thought that we were suggesting the suicide. But we symbolized the end of a relationship with the word "death",
we did not mean the physical death. When you start writing songs, you have the intention to talk about different situations
that have marked your life and of course you emphasize the melodies.
Ville:
What we want to give as HIM is entertainment, because maybe someone who listens to us doesn't care about my opinion about
some things that happening. You give whatever you write to people from different countries and singing about your own experiences
gives them the opportunity to compare them with theirs or even turn them to theirs. Actually, we don't want to say something
with our lyrics, we're not affected by the political situation in Finland and this happens because nothing has changed after
the Second World War. In Finland prevails almost the socialism(???!!!),there aren't rich or poor people!
PnR: And what would
you elect in a plebiscite about the position of your country in E.U.?
Mige: I would elect
for the stay of our country in E.U., but I have to admit that I can't see our direct advantages. I just know that now we can
travel to other countries only with your passport, but there are a lot of people in Finland that are against E.U., especially
the farmers...
PnR: Will you play
Billy Idol's "Rebel yell" at your gigs in Athens, as you use to do? And why have you chosen this song?
Mige: Hhmm, maybe because
it's a strong song and a little bit easy, I like it very much. From the discography of Billy Idol I would choose to buy the
best of, I like some of his songs but as regards the rest of them, it would be better not to talk about it...Now that I think
about it, this song belongs to the best music season for me: the second half of 80's.So punk music hasn't even touched me,
I don't even have "Never Mind The Bollocks"! | 